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Fig. 8.1
First person perspective via Google Glass from an artist Katz interviewed as she created
anewdrawing
Google Glass while drawing made it tempting to constantly look at the image in the
corner of her vision of what was being recorded. Crabapple describes the uncanny
drawing process by stating “Glass is all about distraction, and it's the ultimate in
unphysical - it's light on a piece of clear plastic in front of your eye.”
New York city curator Samantha Katz created Gallery Glass in September 2013
as a YouTube channel (Gallery Glass - YouTube) to highlight Brooklyn artists by
filming 30 artists over 30 days while wearing Google Glass (Bushwick Artist Uses
'Google Glass' 2013). Although the videos posted to YouTube are still edited and
generally feel like they could have been filmed with a handheld camera, as shown
in Fig.
8.1
, Katz argues that Glass can give viewers a first person perspective that
presents “what it's like to walk in a studio.” At times Katz hands her Google Glasses
over to the artists as they draw or paint, but unfortunately the videos have been edited
so that the audio from the interviews are overlaid onto the visuals of the painting and
drawing. While this is a standard editing technique for cinematic film, in the case
here for Gallery Glass it tends to disrupt the attempt at experiencing the creation
of an artwork from the artists' perspective. Katz admits the project was a “beta”
test and is interested in continuing to explore the potential use of Glass for learning
about art.
It could be argued that David Datuna's Viewpoint of Billions is perhaps one of the
only works of art to date that is truly unique to Google Glass (David Datuna
2014
).
Datuna worked with mobile app developers BrickSimple to create an interactive
installation that at first glance represents an American flag - see Fig.
8.2
.However,
as one approaches the artwork, you'll see the surface is covered with found eyeglass
lenses. Beneath the lenses is a collage of photographs and newspaper clippings as
well as hidden cameras and microcomputers. The cameras can record visitors as they
